Running Defense
by fbeauchamphartz
Summary: Santana is angry because Kurt ruined her special moment, and she follows him out to the hallway to tell him off, but at some point in the middle, while Kurt's trying to balance letting her have her say and not breaking apart from the inside out, someone comes along who decides he's not having it. Fix-it fic for 6x03 Warning for spoilers. Not Santana friendly. Kurt H. Sebastian S.


**A/N:** _Okay, so I was angry about last night's episode, and I needed to fic it out. This is my fix-it for the hallway scene between Kurt and Santana, with someone coming along to actually help him out and not stand there like a lump on a frog's butt the way Rachel apparently did. Not Santana friendly, not necessarily Rachel friendly, and not too happy with Blaine or Dave either (though I don't tear anyone apart - like some people). Also, I didn't put a single word of Santana's actual rant into this one-shot. Warning for season 6 spoilers, anxiety, coping mechanisms, PTSD, mention of therapy and mention of bullying. But, yeah! Protective Sebastian makes up for all the angst, I hope._

Kurt doesn't know why he's still standing there in the busy school hallway, letting Santana tear into him like this. Yes, he was out of line, and the second he passed through the threshold of the choir room out into the hall, he was already thinking of a hundred ways to apologize. But she followed him and he stopped walking. He felt that he owed it to her to hear her out. He had ruined her moment. She deserved to vent. In reality, he probably would have kept walking if it wasn't for their recent history, a history that he thought mattered for something - their relationship of high school animosity, the popular versus the not-popular, transforming into an honest-to-God mature friendship - but apparently didn't mean shit.

Still, he would have rolled his eyes and stalked off, leaving her to fume futilely in his wake, but then she hit him below the belt. She mentioned Blaine - brought up all of the things he had always feared Blaine only tolerated about him, things he had told to her in confidence - and the whole world stopped dead.

Kurt had been trying to get over Blaine, trying to accept their break up as a permanent, gaping hole in his life, especially now that he discovered Blaine and Dave had moved in together, but unfortunately the mention of Blaine always halted Kurt in his tracks.

_Turn around_, he says to himself as she continues, claws bared, digging into his ribcage, so close to his heart that his whole chest aches. _Turn around and walk away. _But when he can't manage to pull himself away from the unsheathed fury in her eyes, he tries something different. _Don't focus on her. Think about your day, your plans and…oh my God, people are staring at us. Don't look at them. What are you doing after this? One step at a time, just like the therapist recommended. Stop off at Between the Sheets for sheet music. Then the Lima Mall. But before that, coffee with…_

_Fuck!_

He forgot. He has a coffee date in about –

Kurt's eyes shift momentarily to the clock at the end of the hallway and he notices the time.

… three minutes. And to top it off, he had asked his date to meet him _here_, outside the choir room.

_Why? Why did he do that? Shit!_

Kurt's eyes scan the hallway, praying there's traffic…or a bomb threat…but there he is.

Kurt's insides freeze over.

Let Santana rip out his heart because he's about to die right now of total embarrassment.

Sebastian Smythe, looking unexpectedly casual but debonair in dark wash jeans and a heather grey t-shirt, walking straight toward him.

Kurt had run into Sebastian at _Scandals_, after Blaine and Dave had finished their drinks and left to do whatever (Kurt didn't ask and it was hard for him to even consider the possibilities). More to the point, Sebastian came over to his table and sat himself down without being invited. Kurt really had no intention of confiding in him, but apparently he had seen the whole pathetic meeting from where he was standing, ordering a drink at the bar. He might not have inferred everything correctly, but he knew the devastating parts. Kurt had expected a series of jokes at his expense to rival even Santana's not-yet-finished tirade, but Sebastian had been surprisingly sympathetic. He bought Kurt a drink and spent a few hours listening to Kurt's self-serving tale of woe. When Kurt was done, he had expected Sebastian to realize his mistake and run off, the way his speed-dating partner had when he tried it back in New York, but Sebastian didn't. He asked Kurt out for coffee, and seeing no reason why he shouldn't, Kurt said yes.

Kurt sees Sebastian coming his way, waving and smiling – an adorable, somewhat anxious smile that turns into a slight frown when he sees the scene unfolding before his eyes. He walks up to them, eyes darting from Kurt's rigid body and blanched face to Rachel's bizarre collection of ever-shifting expressions, and then Santana, rambling on about something, he's not entirely sure what. Sure, he made peace with these guys in high school, but that's doesn't necessarily mean he listens when they talk.

"Hi, babe," Sebastian says, heedless of Santana's rant. "What's going on?"

Kurt doesn't say anything, completely cold on the inside from the vitriol flying at him at warp speed and now an extra layer of ice added by the utter humiliation of being reamed in front of Sebastian.

Could this day get any worse?

Sebastian snakes an arm around Kurt's stiff shoulders, feeling Kurt's walls go up underneath his fingers.

"Lady Hummel here interrupted a very special moment between me and my fiancée," Santana answers for Kurt, barely taking a new breath in when she does, fueled entirely by her need for vindication. She says the word _fiancée_ with her eyes firmly glued to Kurt's face, delivering it like a slap and rubbing it in his face - something that she has that he had no longer.

"Really?" Sebastian says, talking to Santana but with his focus on Kurt, side-eying the man standing beside him who looked ready to vomit on his shoes. "What poor soul willingly agreed to marry _you_?"

Santana jerks back, crossing her arms over her chest, ready to unleash a whole new vile of poison on Sebastian Smythe when she's done with Kurt.

"Brittany," Santana says, speaking the name protectively as if Sebastian doesn't deserve to know.

"Oh, well, that makes sense," Sebastian says with a nod. "That girl always seemed sweeter than she was judgmental."

Santana's mouth drops open and Sebastian snickers. She puts up a hand to silence him and turns her burning gaze back on Kurt.

"Anyway…"

Sebastian stares straight at Rachel's contorting face as Santana continues on as if Sebastian isn't even standing there with his arm around Kurt's shoulders.

"Wait, wait, wait…" he butts in, interrupting Santana's rage again, pointing at Rachel. "Aren't you the best friend?"

Rachel stands up straight, linking her hands together in front of her, staring at him defensively.

"I'm Kurt's," Rachel answers, clearing her throat. "I'm Kurt's best friend."

Sebastian narrows his eyes at her.

"And you're just going to let her talk to him like that?"

Rachel's face falls. For all of her silent pleading with Santana to stop, all of the pointed looks that she hoped would make Santana realize she had gone too far, Rachel hadn't said a word; she didn't have any right now to defend herself. She glances at Kurt for help, then shamefully down at the ground.

"Well, I…" she starts weakly, but Sebastian doesn't let her finish, blowing out a breath and shaking his head.

"You sure know how to pick 'em, babe," he says, tugging Kurt's shoulders and leading him away.

Santana watches them turn down the hallway and her eyes open wide.

"Wait a minute, Smythe," she roars. "I'm not done!"

"You're more than done," Sebastian throws over his shoulder, not stopping his stride or looking back. "You've made your point. You're a bitch. Now go back to your _fiancée_."

Santana storms after them, and for her part, Rachel grabs for Santana's arm, trying to stop her, but Santana shakes her off.

"Keep walking, Smythe," she yells. "Do you think for one second that I'm not going to follow you?"

This time Sebastian does stop, turning and pushing Kurt behind his body, leaning down a hair to meet Santana's glare eye-to-eye.

"And do you think," he says, his voice lowered for only her to hear, "for one second that I'm going to think twice about running you over with my Porsche if you do?"

Santana opens her mouth, but something in the way Sebastian sets his jaw and the glare intensifying in his hard green eyes makes her back down. She looks past Sebastian to Kurt and points his way with one sharply manicured finger.

"This isn't over," she says.

Sebastian laughs.

"Yes, it is," he says, standing straight and turning back to Kurt, taking him under his arm again and sweeping him down the hallway.

Kurt sighs in relief as they walk farther away from that blood bath, the double-doors to the parking lot almost in reach. His insides are starting to melt, but he's still embarrassed. He really hadn't wanted to be rescued – but he's glad Sebastian did.

"Thank you," Kurt says quietly. "You didn't need to do that."

"Yeah," Sebastian answers quickly. "Yeah, I did. I don't know exactly what you did or said, and I don't particularly care, to tell you the truth. But no one deserves that."

Kurt chuckles nervously, astounded by the idea that Sebastian Smythe just defended his honor, that he might be the good guy in this story after all.

"You know, she's going to finish her rant at some point," Kurt says, the thrill of the moment slipping away at the thought of being cornered in some hallway and having to go through that all over again – just like high school.

Then an absurd realization pops into his head.

Well, look at where the fuck they are?

"No, she won't," Sebastian says, holding Kurt close.

"What makes you so sure?" Kurt asks, hoping for an answer he can hold on to.

Sebastian winks at him, reaching out a hand to open the door.

"Because I've just decided that as long as you're here, I'm not letting you out of my sight."


End file.
